Sunday, January 12, 2014

Restaurant Style Flatbreads

Whenever we go out to eat we always order a couple of flatbreads to share. I love how they come out with that cracker thin crust and had been wanting to make them at home. One thought that crossed my mind was putting the dough through my pasta roller. Thankfully I did not have to go that far. I found this fantastic gem of a recipe that comes out perfect every time. It rolls out cracker thin with ease.

We just love making these for dinner! The whole family gets involved and my daughters love it because they can put whatever they like on theirs. Then we all try each others creations and decide whose we like the best! Obviously the topping ideas are endless. Indeed I will look at menus online of some of my favorite restaurants and their flatbreads to come up with toppings to serve at home. I set up bowls with all kinds of things so everyone can customize their flatbread.

By the way - these flatbreads cost at least $10 each at your favorite restaurant so I just saved you at least $40 depending on the toppings you choose!

I would normally simply list the changes but I am adding the recipe here with my changes because we love this recipe. I have had the misfortune of loving a recipe and then going to my bookmarked page only to find the site has been taken down. So, I will place it here where I always know I can find it.

I weigh my flour. Weighing gives the most consistent results. I highly recommend a kitchen scale. I have increased the rosemary in my recipe because I love it and I have decreased the olive oil and it comes out perfect.

Flatbread Dough

2 ½ cups bread flour (300 grams)

2 tsp bread machine or rapid rise yeast

½ tsp garlic powder

1 tbls fresh rosemary, minced

¾ cup wheat beer or pale ale

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 tbls olive oil

Put all of the ingredients into a bread machine and put it through the dough cycle.

If you do not want to use a bread machine, heat the beer to 120 degrees. Add remaining ingredients, mix and then kneed until smooth. Set aside, covered, for an hour to rise.

When you are ready to make your flatbreads preheat the oven to 500. Take the dough and punch it down. Cover it and let it rest for 5 minutes. (This is necessary to help it relax and make it easier to roll out). After 5 minutes divide the dough into 6 equal pieces.

Mix 3 crushed garlic cloves with 3 tablespoons olive oil.

Grease 3 large baking sheets and sprinkle them with cornmeal. On a large board sprinkled with a little flour roll out the dough into long flatbreads. Place 2 long flatbreads on each baking sheet.

Brush each flatbread with some of the garlic olive oil.

Top as desired.

Place 2 baking sheets at a time in the oven. After 5 minutes switch the top and bottom sheets. ( I also turn them so the back side is now in front. If you are only baking one move it from the bottom to the top and turn it after 5 minutes for even baking.